École Allain St-Cyr is more than a school for some on Fridays during part of March and April. By 1:30 p.m., it starts to function as a place of worship.
A steady influx of Yellowknife’s Muslim community began making their way through the front doors of the school. They smiled, greeted each other and slipped off boots and shoes alike. Their socks muffled their footsteps as each of them scurried into the gymnasium for prayer.
By 2 p.m., about half of the school’s gymnasium was packed. It’s a weekly routine for this community, as they once again build their way up to the end of Ramadan. Today, they’ll have finished Ramadan and will begin celebrating Eid. But for many, this year’s holiday will feel very different.
“Our hearts are aching. We have pain,” said Nazim Awan, talking about the ongoing war in Gaza.
The numbers aren’t exact, but they are high. As of February of this year, more than 33,000 people have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
On Friday, Awan also mentioned Gaza’s death toll and highlighted that much of that total figure is women and children.
“For this Eid, we cannot ignore that,” he said.
Awan said he has been a part of Yellowknife’s Muslim community for decades; he said when he arrived, he was “only maybe the second Pakistani in Yellowknife.”
Yellowknife’s Muslim community has had quite the spike since and for Awan, it’s helped him feel more at home.
“It feels good, you have more of a sense of belonging,” he said. “One person, you do whatever you can. But two people, you can move mountains.”
Awan said the Muslim community here is about 600 strong and as diverse as the city’s entire population. It’s also largely filled with youth.
“Every Friday prayer, we see almost 90 per cent new faces, so that feels good,” said Awan.
If anyone’s accustomed to seeing new faces, it’s Habib Hassan, who led Friday’s prayer and works for the Islamic Centre of Yellowknife.
When prayer ended, Hassan stopped to shake everyone’s hand before saying goodbye. After, he spoke about what his community has done for the Palestinian plight as well.
“One is our prayers to them,” he said. “We’ve held rallies about (a) ceasefire. We want the innocent people to stop dying.”
Hassan added that as Muslims, they have an obligation to care and contribute for Palestinians in whatever way they can.
“They also celebrate Eid,” he said, talking about how the community has donated to local charities to support Muslims in the Middle East for Eid expenses.
“We go on different sites, different organizations and donate there,” Hassan added. “We need to give them that care.”
Nearly 98 per centofallPalestinians are Muslim, according to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
As for Yellowknife’s own Muslim community, there’s still much to look forward to, especially with a new Islamic centre on the horizon.
Awan said the building not just for his community, but all of Yellowknife.
“Everybody who wants to know about Islam, they’re welcome. And if they need help, they’re welcome. The Islamic centre will be maintained by us, but we do not own that. It belongs to everybody.”
Clarification: A previous version of this article suggested that École Allain St-Cyr functions as a regular place of worship for the Muslim community. According to the school, the Muslim community only prayed at the facility over the past month. Yellowknifer apologizes for any embarrassment or confusion that this may have caused.